Life is tooooo short to miss any days on the to wheelers.
We only complain about the snow here not the heat and wet.
Yeah, I'm with you on that.
I live in southern Ontario too, and the weather is one of the only things in life I don't complain about. (I hate the salt we put on the snow, however. I seems so vain to do that, and it's certainly extremely destructive to not only the natural environment, but to our vehicles, clothes and everything else that comes in contact with the stuff.)
Sorry...... So anyway, about the heat - call me weird (many do) but I took to wearing white to reflect the heat. It really works, for me. I use a black and yellow mesh jacket - I bought a bright white shirt that fits snugly over the jacket, "Manchu-ed" the coller, sewed on an extra (throat) button, and it works like a bomb.
I bought a pair of too big by a size or two - bright white Levis at a second hand clothing store. I have worn them a few times as my only "bottom end" protection, but not too often. I usually wear them over at least a pair of blue jeans, but usually I wear them over a pair of thick leather pants.
I use gators to keep the pant cuffs from flying around and to keep them neatly merged with my (yellow) boots.
I have a plain, white, full face helmet.
If the weather cools off a bit, i put the white shirt under the mesh jacket, and that warms me up somewhat.
After a couple of hot summers the pants are showing their age and usage by developing holes and some fraying here and there. I still use them though - I just try and remember they're full of holes and to wear something underneath.
I don't often see other riders wearing white. However, on one of the hottest and most humid days last summer (a day when there were almost no bikes to be seen on the roads) I did see two other guys ripping down the highway with white shirts on over their motorcycle jackets.
Yeah, the white clothes get dirty alright - but bleach is cheap (and so are the clothes, for that matter).
When it comes to riding, I'm sorta like "whatever works, baby", and the white thing works for me - in spades really.
If you want to try it, just make sure the whites are "whiter than white". Anything less will absorb heat. And of course the principle applies only to hot sunny days. If a day is unbearably hot, and overcast (hey, it happens) another strategy would be in order.
Another benefit of wearing white on a motorcycle is only a suspicion I have, but I think the cops are more likely to leave you alone. I think most of 'em think it's kinda sissy-like - which is fine by me......
Finally, I think the white makes a rider more visible say, than asphalt coloured clothes or something like that.
So there you go - I'm cool, I'm visible, and I'm repulsive to (most) law enforcement types ...... pretty good (unless you run into a good looking female cop who's attracted to sweaty bikers, I suppose).
